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Amazon EC2 is among the more potent items in Amazon’s web services arsenal. You’ve probably heard of many of the other services such as S3 for storage and FPS for payments. EC2 is all about the “elastic compute cloud.” In layman’s terms, it’s a server. In slightly less layman’s terms, EC2 lets you easily run and manage many instances (like servers) and given the proper software and configurations, have a scalable platform for your web application, outsource resource-intensive tasks to EC2 or for whatever you would use a server farm.
There are three different sizes of EC2 instances you can summon and they’re all probably more powerful than the server currently running your blog. Unless you’re offloading video processing or something intense to EC2, the default small instance with its 1.7GB of RAM and 160GB disk should be more than fine. It’s just nice to know that if for any reason I need a farm of machines each with 15GB of RAM, I can get that easily. -
The Obama administration is set to announce today two proposals that would empower shareholders and the Securities and Exchange Commission to have more oversight over executive compensation at all publicly traded firms, government sources said.
The measures would require legislation, which is expected to be sent to Capitol Hill soon, one of the sources said.
Under a so-called "say-on-pay" plan, shareholders would have a greater voice over what top earners at firms are paid.
A second proposal aims to provide company compensation committees more independence as they determine what executives should make.
Month: June 2009
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Here it is, kiddies: the latest iPhone. Just one year after Apple announced the iPhone 3G, the iPhone 3G S has been announced. There is much to love in this update including larger storage options, a faster CPU, HSDPA support and a better camera all for the same price as the current set.
The OS should now run faster thanks to a 50% bump in CPU speed; it now runs at 600MHz. The system memory has doubled to 256MB as well.
Apple didn’t forget about the camera – well, sortof. The iPhone 3G S did get an upgrade in that department too, but it’s only with a 3MP camera. It does finally support auto-focus, but it’s still not up to par with other flagship smartphones. Plus, this iPhone can now shoot video at 30 FPS with auto lighting and auto focus.
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It sucks to receive complaints. I mean, it is a blow to the ego for sure. But there is a silver lining (or perhaps its platinum)… a complaining customer is an opportunity to improve your service not only for them, but for all future customers. And, if you do it right, you can turn that unhappy customer into your biggest, most vocal fan. Here are 55 tips, donated by TPErs, on exactly how to turn that raging customer into a raving fan:
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How big is the U.S. venture industry?
The National Venture Capital Association says that in 2008 there were 882 firms that had raised at least one fund in the last eight years, a substantial drop from 2007 when there were 1,019 fitting that definition.
Another measure is to look at the number of venture firms that made a U.S. investment in 2008. While that methodology yields a number of active firms – 848 – that is in the same ballpark, it shows a less dramatic decline. But all bets are off this year and next as many funds raised during the tech bubble hit the end of their natural lives.
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Tense negotiations over the value of warrants held by the Treasury Department could prevent some of the biggest U.S. banks from fully shaking off government ownership after they repay billions of dollars in bailout funds in coming days.
Some big banks, including JPMorgan Chase & Co are wrangling with officials over the warrants they want to buy back from Treasury, which the government owns in addition to the banks' preferred stock. The banks argue they should get a discount on the warrants because they did not want the money in the first place.
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According to BetaNews Motorola (NYSE: MOT) is switching a phone that was supposed to ship with Windows Mobile to Google (NSDQ: GOOG)’s Android platform. Is this a cost issue or a marketing decision?
From a licensing perspective, Android is free whereas Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) charges for each phone that Windows Mobile is put on. Motorola’s handset division has been in financial straits for some time now so this could be a cost cutting maneuver.
It may also be that Motorola is trying to get the device out the door as soon as possible with a more modern OS. Windows Mobile 6.1 is a bit long in the tooth since it is visually almost indistinguishable from WinMo 5, a platform that shipped nearly 4 years ago. WinMo 6.5, which is substantially updated, was just completed this month, but it will be three months or more before the first devices start showing up. -
Sprint (NYSE: S) threw a cold bucket of reality on the pipe dreams of AT&T (NYSE: T)’s Randall Stephenson and Verizon (NYSE: VZ) Wireless’s Lowell McAdam. It verified that it will be the sole distributor of the Palm Pre “through 2009.”
Sprint spokesperson James Fisher spoke in no uncertain terms. He said, “We have the Pre through 2009.”
That means AT&T and Verizon Wireless will have to wait at least six months before they can sell the device, which won’t put the Pre on their shelves until very close to the December holidays, if not into January.
This statement comes after AT&T’s Randall Stephenson and Verizon Wireless’s Lowell McAdam both indicated they’d be offering the Palm Pre at some point in the future. Verizon’s McAdams went so far as to say, “Over the next six months or so you will see devices like Palm Pre and a second generation Storm.”
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Every time customers experience your brand, you want them to remember what you do, why it is important to them, and why it is unique to you. By developing a clear expression of what is important to your customers and unique to you — and reinforcing it with every customer interaction — you will help your customers remember what your brand stands for. This starts with developing a brand positioning statement.
Developing a brand positioning statement involves four steps:
1. Describe your customers
2. Define yourself in terms of your competition
3. Explain your greatest benefit
4. Put it together into your brand positioning statement -
Structured like Gmail, the developer and end-user software interoperates with other Web services, such as IM, forums, wikis, and blogs.
At its developer conference on Thursday, Google plans to offer attendees a chance to try Google Wave, the company’s new real-time collaborative communication system.
Lars Rasmussen, who was lead engineer for Google Maps before co-founding the Wave team with his brother Jens, describes Wave as “what e-mail might look like if it were invented today.”
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I get it. You want a dream team, a devoted group of employees who would move mountains, face their fears, and work tirelessly to help you meet your entrepreneurial goals. I hate to break it to you bucko, but they ain’t you. They may love you and their job, but nobody will ever be as determined as you to make your business a success. And if you think money will make the difference, you are fatally wrong.
Money does NOT motivate. In fact, money is the world’s greatest anti-motivator. If you pay people too little, they will right that wrong by under performing, coming in late, or even engaging in a little sabotage. If you pay people too much, they will work hard, but they will not work harder. No one can put in more than 100% effort, even if they try.
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Palm has done a platform reboot with its new webOS and the company is swinging for the fences with its first webOS device, the Palm Pre. So will Palm strike out or hit it out of the park? Here are five reasons why I expect it to be a homerun.
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For the last decade, I have been convinced that the three most important factors in determining the success of a start-up are (1) team, (2) product or service, and (3) market (timing, size, etc.). Take an A+ entrepreneur, with a great idea for a new product or service, at the right time, and about as fast than you can tweet Susan Boyle you’d have a success brewing.
Recently, I have added one factor to the must-have list: the right start-up culture. In other words, add a dose of bad culture to a team of superstars, a killer product and good market opportunity, the result is almost always death by a thousand backstabs.
What defines a great start-up culture?
Justice Stewart’s “I know it when I see it” standard seems particularly apt here, but not actionable.